Method and system for limiting time for online game users, ppp server, and online game server

ABSTRACT

The invention discloses a method for limiting the game time of an online game user. The method includes: according to the information about the game time of all online game accounts of the user recorded in a PPP server, acquiring the cumulative online time of all online game accounts of the user; acquiring the cumulative online time of all online game accounts of the user after the user logs in through an online game account; counting time on the basis of the acquired cumulative online time, and limiting the game time of the user according to the counted time. The invention also discloses a system for limiting the game time of an online game user, a PPP server and an online game server. With the invention, the game time of a user is limited according to the information about the game time of all online game accounts of the user, and thus a time limited is executed on an online game user who owns multiple online game accounts.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of International Patent ApplicationNo. PCT/CN2007/000340, filed Jan. 31, 2007, which claims priority toChinese Patent Application No. 200610058519.0, filed Mar. 10, 2006, eachof which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to online game services, and inparticular, to a method and system for limiting time for online gameusers, a personal portable profile (PPP) server, and an online gameserver.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Online games bring social problems such as Web addiction while providinga means of entertainment. Therefore, online games are negatively knownas “electronic heroin.” As a side effect of online games, Web addictiontroubles the development of the Internet culture industry. It is acommon responsibility of governments, enterprises and the society towork out an effective solution to Web addiction, especially juvenileaddiction to online games.

Limiting the time of playing online games may help solve juvenileaddiction to online games. In the prior art, after a user logs inthrough an online game account, the online game server counts the onlinegame time of the account from 0, and monitors the game time of theaccount according to the counted time.

Specifically, the anti-addiction system in the online game server limitsthe online game time of the user. The online game server furtherincludes an online game server system and an online game accountmanagement system. In the prior art, the foregoing anti-addiction systemexecutes a time limit on an online game based on a single online gameaccount of the user.

Consequently, a single online game account is under the time limit, butonline games come in many types, and a user can have many online gameaccounts for each type of online game. For a user with multiple onlinegame accounts, the time limit based on a single online game account isfutile. For example, user A has three online game accounts: account 1,account 2 and account 3. User A logs in to the online game serverthrough account 1, and logs out after reaching the fatigue timethreshold; and then logs in to the online game server through account 2to play, and logs out after reaching the fatigue time threshold; andthen logs in through account 3. In this way, the total game time of theuser is far greater than the fatigue time threshold, but the online gameserver system is unable to limit the bonus of the user. Therefore, theprior art is unable to limit the game time of an online game user thathas multiple online game accounts.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A method for limiting the game time of an online game user provided inan embodiment of the invention includes:

acquiring cumulative online time of all online game accounts of the userafter the user logs in through an online game account according to theinformation about the game time of all online game accounts of the user;and

counting time on the basis of the acquired cumulative online time, andlimiting the game time of the user according to the counted time.

A system for limiting the game time of an online game user provided inan embodiment of the invention includes an anti-addiction system and anonline game server system, wherein:

the anti-addiction system is adapted to receive the login message of anonline game account of the user, acquire cumulative online time of allonline game accounts of the user according to the information about thegame time of all online game accounts of the user, count time on thebasis of the cumulative online time, and limit the game time of the useraccording to the counted time; and

online game server system is adapted to send the login message of anonline game account of the user to the anti-addiction system.

A PPP server provided in an embodiment of the invention includes: a PPPaccess control unit, and a PPP storage unit, wherein:

the PPP storage unit is adapted to store the PPP data about the gametime of all online game accounts of the user; and

the PPP access control unit is adapted to receive a login update requestand a logout update request, update the information about the game timein the PPP storage unit according to the received request, read theinformation about the game time from the PPP storage unit, and send theread information; or, further search for the PPP requests of the user,read the information in the PPP of the user, and return the user's PPPidentifier information to the user terminal.

An online game server provided in an embodiment of the inventionincludes an anti-addiction system and an online game server system,wherein:

the anti-addiction system is adapted to receive the login message of anonline game account of a user, acquire cumulative online time of allonline game accounts of the user according to the information about thegame time of all online game accounts of the user, count time on thebasis of the cumulative online time and limit the game time of the useraccording to the counted time; and

the online game server system is adapted to send the login message of anonline game account of the user to the anti-addiction system.

The foregoing scheme may bring the following benefits: In theembodiments of the present invention, the system may acquire thecumulative online time of all online game accounts of the user accordingto the information about the game time of all online game accounts ofthe user after the user logs in through an online game account, andexecute a time limit on the user; and update the information about thegame time of the user in the PPP server after the user logs out throughan online game account, thus executing a time limit on an online gameuser who has multiple online game accounts.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a general flowchart of the method provided in a embodiments ofthe invention;

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of the method provided in the first embodiment ofthe invention;

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of the method provided in the second embodiment ofthe invention;

FIG. 4 shows the cumulative online time of a user acquired in the methodprovided in the second embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 5 shows the general architecture of the system provided in aembodiments of the invention;

FIG. 6 shows the architecture of the system provided in the firstembodiment of the invention; and

FIG. 7 shows the architecture of the system provided in the secondembodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The embodiments of the invention comprise acquiring the game time ofmultiple online game accounts of a user, and limiting the game time ofthe user according to the acquired game time of multiple online gameaccounts.

Network operators have network resources that are unavailable fromapplication service providers. By providing the basic access service forusers, operators can provide unified access management for users andapplication service providers. Operators can provide a personal portableprofile (PPP, also known as communication fingerprint) for a userthrough the access number of the user (for example, mobile phone numberin the case of a mobile operator, fixed telephone number in the case ofa fixed network operator, access account in the case of a broadbandoperator) or through the specific user attribute information such assound wave, fingerprint, and Radio Frequency Identification (RFID)information. The PPP is a minimum complete set that is established by anetwork operator to uniquely identify communication attributes of auser. For example, the PPP may contain the attributes of the bearernetwork resources used by the user, and attributes of service resourcessuch as upper-layer service capability components, platforms, andapplications. Such information may serve as basic information fornetwork authentication and service authentication of the user.

The embodiments of the invention set information about the game time ofall online game accounts of a user in the PPP of the user; acquire theinformation about the game time of all online game accounts of the useraccording to the interaction between the PPP server and the online gameserver system, or the online game account management system, or theonline game client system; and limit the game time of the user accordingto the acquired information about the game time of all online gameaccounts of the user, thus effectively controlling the game time of anonline game user who has multiple online game accounts.

The following elaborates on the method and the system for limiting thegame time of an online game user provided in an embodiment of theinvention.

As shown in FIG. 1, the general process of a method for limiting thegame time of an online game user provided in an embodiment of theinvention includes the following steps:

Step 101: According to the information about the game time of all onlinegame accounts of the user recorded in the PPP server, acquire cumulativeonline time of all online game accounts of the user after the user logsin through an online game account.

Step 102: Count time on the basis of the acquired cumulative onlinetime, and limit the game time of the user according to the counted time.

Step 103: Update the information about the game time of the user in thePPP server after the user logs out through an online game account.

The foregoing steps 101 and 102 may be performed by an attachedanti-addiction system or a standalone anti-addiction system. Theinformation about the game time of all online game accounts of a userrecorded in a PPP server may be cumulative online time, cumulativeoffline time and user status information acquired by the PPP server,which derive from the processed login time and logout time of everyonline game account of the user. In this case, the way for theanti-addiction system to acquire the information about the game time ofall online game accounts of the user may be: the PPP server sends thecumulative online time acquired after information processing to theanti-addiction system directly. The information about the game time of auser recorded in a PPP server may be the login time and logout time ofevery online game account of the user acquired by the PPP server fromeach online game server. In this case, the way for the anti-addictionsystem to acquire the information about the game time of all online gameaccounts of the user may be: acquiring the login time and logout time ofevery online game account of the user from the PPP server through anonline game server.

The method of the present invention is hereinafter described in detailwith reference to two specific embodiments.

As shown in FIG. 2, the process of the method provided in the firstembodiment of the invention includes the following steps, where step 201to step 206 describe how a user accesses the network through a terminalto perform PPP-related authentication and processing:

Steps 201-203: The user accesses the network through a terminal. Theuser attribute collection unit in the terminal collects the userattributes in the terminal, and sends the attributes to the userattribute authentication unit in the uniform access management unit ofthe operator for authentication. After the authentication is passed,step 204 is executed.

In this embodiment, the user attribute information is associated withthe PPP of the user. When the user gets registered on the network, theuser attribute information is registered. The user attribute informationmay be information that uniquely identifies the user such as an ID cardnumber, or other user attribute information such as sound wave,fingerprint, portrait, and RFID, or special hardware of the userterminal such as CPU serial number or MAC address.

Step 204: The user attribute authentication unit in the uniform accessmanagement unit sends the attribute identifier to the PPP server, andthe PPP server searches for the corresponding PPP information of theuser. If the user accesses the network for the first time, the PPPserver generates the corresponding PPP information for the user. In thepresent invention, the operator generates a PPP for each user thataccesses the network. Here the uniform access management unit may alsosend the network access identifier of the user to the PPP server, andthe PPP server searches the PPP database for the PPP or generates a PPPfor the user according to the network access identifier of the user.

Step 205: The PPP server performs network authentication and serviceauthentication for the user.

The authentication here is not to verify the identifier of the user, butto verify the PPP information of the user, including the basic servicecapability attributes and the network capability attributes in the PPP,for example, network elements and service capability components used bythe user. After the authentication is passed, the user can use thenetwork normally.

The user's PPP records the information about communication facilitiesand resource facilities. The generation network (NGN) technology basedon IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) separates control from bearer andseparates service from control. Here the network control layerauthenticates the bearer capabilities of the user (for example, accessbandwidth, or line QoS) according to the PPP of the user. The servicecapability authentication here is not to authenticate the specificservice applications, but to authenticate the basic service capabilitiesof the network operator.

Step 206: The PPP server returns the user's PPP-related information tothe terminal.

The PPP-related information here may be the user's PPP identifierinformation, or the user's PPP information. The user's PPP identifierinformation includes some attributes of the PPP server such asinteraction mode and license, and the uniform resource locator (URL) ofthe user's PPP. The PPP server may also send the PPP information to theterminal directly, where the PPP information contains information aboutthe game time of the user. In this case, the anti-addiction system willlimit the game time of the user according to the information about gametime acquired by the online game server from the terminal.

A part of XML-based PPP identifier information of the user isexemplified below:

<?xml version=“1.0” encoding=“UTF-8”?> <PPPid> <PppId>8016800289007</PppId> //PPP identifier <UserId>493005100592800</UserId> //User identifier <PppURL>www.pppserver.com/ppp/8016800289007</PppURL>   //PPP URL <Cred>//License information item <Meta> <Typexmlns=“syncml:metinf”>syncml:auth-md5</Type> //MD-5 encryption <Formatxmlns=‘syncml:metinf’>b64</Format> //Data format </Meta> <Data><!-base64 formatting of userid:password --> //License information data</Data> </Cred> </PPPid>

As shown in FIG. 2, the process of monitoring the user after the userlogs in to a game includes steps 207-217:

Step 207: The online game client logs in to the game through aregistered online game account. The game client sends a login message tothe online game server system. This message includes not only the onlinegame account information, but also the user's PPP identifierinformation, or even the user's PPP information. If the login messageincludes the user's PPP information, the PPP information includes atleast the information about the game time of the user, for example,cumulative online time of the user.

Step 208: The online game server sends an online game account loginmessage to the anti-addiction system, carrying the user's PPP identifierinformation or the user's PPP information.

Step 209: The anti-addiction system sends a login update request to thePPP server, carrying the PPP identifier information.

Step 210: The PPP server authenticates the license in the PPP identifierinformation sent by the anti-addiction system.

Here the authentication of the license in the PPP identifier informationaims to ensure that the modification of the user's PPP is legal, andprevent attackers from faking the online game server to modify theuser's PPP. If the authentication is failed, the PPP server may takesome tracking and restrictive measures such as masking the IP address ofthe opposite party. Generally, any system that performs data exchangewith the PPP server has been certified by the operator. Therefore, thePPP information of the user can be protected from illegal modificationthrough a user confirmation mechanism in addition to use of a license. Auser confirmation mechanism may include: After receiving an updaterequest from the anti-addiction system, the PPP server sends ananti-addiction system update notification to the terminal, and executesthe update operation only after the user makes a confirmation; once theuser terminal returns a reject message to the PPP server, the PPP servermay return an error message to the anti-addiction system withoutmodifying the user's PPP, and then the anti-addiction system notifiesthe online game server.

Step 211: After the authentication is passed, the information about thegame time in the user's PPP will be updated.

In this embodiment, the game time information recorded by the PPP serverin the user's PPP includes: the user's cumulative online time,cumulative offline time, and user status. The PPP server may count timeautomatically according to the user status, including: If the user isonline, the PPP server counts the cumulative online time of the user; ifthe user is offline, the PPP server counts the cumulative offline timeof the user. Besides, if the PPP server detects that the cumulativeoffline time of the user reaches or exceeds the preset threshold ofrefreshing the cumulative online time, for example, 5 hours, the user'scumulative online time may be refreshed to 0. In this case, the processof updating the game time information in the user's PPP includes: First,check the user status recorded in the user's PPP information. If theuser status recorded in the user's PPP is “offline,” set the user statusrecorded in the user's PPP to “online,” set the cumulative offline timerecorded in the user's PPP to “0,” and continue counting the user'sonline time on the basis of the originally recorded cumulative onlinetime, starting from the foregoing offline time; if the user statusrecorded in the PPP is “online,” it indicates that another online gameaccount is being used under time monitoring, and step 212 will beperformed directly.

Step 212: The PPP server returns an update confirmation message togetherwith the user's cumulative online time to the anti-addiction system.

Step 213: The anti-addiction system starts counting time based on thecumulative game time sent from the PPP server, and monitors the gametime of the user according to the preset policy.

The preset policy in this step may be: A prompt message is sent to theonline game server according to the healthy game time, fatigue gametime, and unhealthy game time mentioned in the anti-addiction systemstandard formulated by the General Administration of Press andPublication of the People's Republic of China. After receiving theprompt message, the online game server may reduce the bonus of the user,and send a prompt message to the user. Here the cumulative game timesent from the PPP server includes cumulative online time, and cumulativeoffline time. If the cumulative offline time reaches the threshold ofrefreshing the online time, for example, 5 hours, the anti-addictionsystem starts from 0 to count the online game time; otherwise, if thecumulative offline time is less than 5 hours, the anti-addiction systemcounts the user's online time on the basis of the acquired cumulativeonline time. For example, if the cumulative online time sent from thePPP server is 02:30:00 and the anti-addiction system sets the fatiguetime to 3 hours, the anti-addiction system counts time on the basis ofthe received cumulative online time. After the user spends 30 minutes inthe game, the 3-hour fatigue time threshold is reached, and theanti-addiction system sends a prompt message to the online game serverto adjust the game status of the user, for example, reduce the bonus.

A part of XML-based PPP that records the game time of the user in theforegoing steps is exemplified below:

<?xml version=“1.0” encoding=“UTF-8”?> <PppML> <PppHdr> <PppId>8016800289007</PppId> //PPP identifier <UserId>493005100592800</UserId> //User identifier  ... </PppHdr><PppBody> <dimension name=“Base Information” typeId=“1”> //Otherdimension information ... </dimension> <dimension name=“PIM” typeId=“2”>//User data dimension information <item id=“PIM001” name=“Total”type=“Time”> <Description>cumulative online time</Description>//Information item description <online>02:30:20</online>  //Cumulativeonline time <offline>00:00:00</Offline> //Cumulative offline time<state>online</state>  //User status <item> </dimension> </PppBody></PppML>

Step 214: After the user quits the game through an online game account,the terminal sends a quit message to the online game server. The messagemay include the PPP identifier of the user.

Step 215: The online game server notifies the anti-addiction systemabout the logout of the user's online game account and the user's PPPidentifier information.

Step 216: The anti-addiction system sends a logout update request to thePPP server, carrying the PPP identifier information.

Steps 217-218: The PPP server authenticates the license in the PPPidentifier information sent by the anti-addiction system, and updatesthe user's PPP information after the authentication is passed, and thenproceeds to step 219.

As in step 210, here the authentication of the license in the PPPidentifier information aims to ensure that the modification of theuser's PPP is legal, and prevent attackers from faking the online gameserver to modify the user's PPP. If the authentication is failed, thePPP server may take some tracking and restrictive measures such asmasking the IP address of the opposite party. Generally, any system thatperforms data exchange with the PPP server has been certified by theoperator. Therefore, the PPP information of the user can be protectedfrom illegal modification through a user confirmation mechanism inaddition to use of a license. A user confirmation mechanism includes:After receiving an update request from the anti-addiction system, thePPP server sends an anti-addiction system update notification to theterminal, and executes the update operation only after the user makes aconfirmation; once the user terminal returns a reject message to the PPPserver, the PPP server may return an error message to the anti-addictionsystem without modifying the user's PPP.

The PPP server updates the user's PPP information in this way: The PPPserver searches out the user corresponding to the received PPPidentifier, and judges whether all online game accounts of the user areoffline. If so, the PPP server records the user status as “offline,”whereupon the PPP server counts offline time until receiving the loginmessage of an online game account of the user. The PPP server canmonitor the game time during the counting. For example, when the offlinetime exceeds 5 hours, the PPP server refreshes the cumulative onlinetime to 0; if the user keeps online, the PPP server proceeds to step 219directly.

To accurately know whether all online game accounts are offline, the PPPserver may set a counter for the user beforehand, and set the initialvalue of the counter. When receiving the login message of an online gameaccount of the user, the PPP server increases the counter value; whenreceiving the logout message of an online game account of the user, thePPP server decreases the counter value. The PPP server judges whetherall online game accounts of the user are offline, namely, whether theforegoing counter value set by the PPP server for the user is theinitial value. If so, the PPP server determines that all online gameaccounts of the user are offline; otherwise, the PPP server determinesthat the user is online.

Steps 219-220: The PPP server returns an update confirmation message tothe anti-addiction system, and the anti-addiction system finishes timemonitoring on the online game account of the user.

The first embodiment of the method of the present invention has beendescribed above. Unlike the information recorded in the first embodimentof the method of the present invention, the game time informationrecorded in the PPP server in the second embodiment is the game timeinformation of every online game account of the user rather than thecumulative time information, and includes the login time (namely, whento log in) and logout time (namely, when to log out) of every onlinegame account. Here, for an online user, the logout time may be recordedas a logout identifier, for example, 00:00:00, to indicate that theonline game account is online. In this case, when the user logs out atmidnight exactly, the time is recorded as 24:00:00 to be different fromthe logout identifier. In addition, the online status of every onlinegame account may be set to indicate whether the user is online.

A part of XML-based PPP that includes the game time of online gameaccounts in this embodiment of the invention is exemplified below:

<?xml version=“1.0” encoding=“UTF-8”?> <PppML> <PppHdr> <PppId>8016800289007</PppId> //PPP identifier <UserId>493005100592800</UserId> //User identifier  ... </PppHdr><PppBody>  <dimension name=“Base Information” typeId=“1”>  //Otherdimension information   ...  </dimension>  <dimension name=“PIM”typeId=“2”> //User data dimension information   <item id=“PIM001”name=“WOW” type=“ACC”> //Information item of online game account 1  <Description>World of Warcraft</Description> //Information itemdescription   <ACL> read=www.wow.com&write=www.wow.com </ACL>//Description of the access control list   <Online>12:05:20<Online>//Login time of the online game account   <Offline>14:30:00</Offline>//Logout time of the online   game account   <item>   ...   <itemid=“PIM002” name=“FWest” type=“ACC”> //Information item of online gameaccount 2   <Description> Dreams in the West </Description>//Information item description  <ACL>read=www.163.com&write=www.163.com</ACL> //Description of theaccess control list   <Online>15:00:00</Online>  //Login time of theonline game account   <Offline>00:00:00</Offline> //Logout time of the  online game account   <item>  </dimension> </PppBody> </PppML>

Because the game time information recorded in the user's PPP informationis different, the interaction process is different. The process of thisembodiment is shown in FIG. 3. The process for the user to access thenetwork through a terminal to undergo PPP-related authentication andprocessing is the same as the case of the first embodiment, and is notdescribed further. The following elaborates on how a user logs in to agame and how to limit the game time of the user in this embodiment ofthe invention.

Step 301: The online game client logs in to a game through a registeredonline game account, and gets connected with the online game server toperform data interaction. This step differs from step 207 only in thatthe login message sent by the online game client to the online gameserver system includes the PPP identifier information of the user.

Step 302: The online game server sends an online game account loginmessage to the PPP server, carrying the user's PPP identifierinformation.

Step 303: The PPP server authenticates the license in the PPP identifierinformation sent from the online game server.

Step 304: After the authentication is passed, the PPP server updates thePPP information of the corresponding online game account.

In this step, the update of the PPP information of the correspondingonline game account of the user is to update the online time of thecorresponding online game account to the current time; and record thelogout time as 00:00:00, or set the online game account to the onlinestate.

Step 305: The PPP server sends an update confirmation message and theinformation about game time of all online game accounts of the userbefore PPP update to the online game server.

Step 306: The online game server sends an online game account loginmessage and the game time of all online game accounts of the user to theanti-addiction system.

Alternatively, in this step, the online game server determines thecurrent cumulative online time after processing the game time of allonline game accounts of the user according to the game time of allonline game accounts of the user sent from the PPP server, and thensends the cumulative online time to the anti-addiction system. As shownin FIG. 4, the processing of the game time of all online game accountsof the user includes: If the online game server determines that allonline game accounts are offline according to such information, theonline game server judges whether the duration from the last logout timeamong all online game accounts to the current time exceeds the thresholdof refreshing the online time. If so, the online game server sets thecumulative online time to 0; if not, the online game server calculatesthe cumulative online time of the user according to the login time andthe logout time of all online game accounts. If the online game serverdetermines that all online game accounts of the user are onlinecurrently according to the game time of all online game accounts of theuser, the online game server calculates the cumulative online time ofthe user according to the login time and the logout time of all onlinegame accounts.

Step 307: The anti-addiction system monitors the game time of the useraccording to the online game account login message and the informationabout game time of the user sent from the online game server.

Here, if the information sent from the online game server containsunprocessed time information about all online game accounts of the user,the anti-addiction system processes the time information, determines thecumulative online time of the user, counts time on the basis of suchcumulative online time, and monitors the game time of the user; if theinformation sent from the online game server contains cumulative onlinetime, the anti-addiction system counts time directly on the basis of thecumulative online time and monitors the game time of the user.

Step 308: After the user quits the game through an online game account,the terminal sends a quit message to the online game server. The messagemay include the PPP identifier information of the user.

Step 309: The online game server sends an online game account logoutmessage and the user's PPP identifier information to the PPP server.

Step 310: The PPP server authenticates the license in the PPP identifierinformation sent from the online game server, and updates the PPPinformation of the user after the authentication is passed.

The PPP server updates the user's PPP information by setting the logouttime of the corresponding online game account to the current time in theuser's PPP information.

Step 311: The PPP server returns an update confirmation message to theonline game server.

Step 312: The online game server sends an online game account logoutmessage to the anti-addiction system to notify the anti-addiction systemthat the online game account of the user has logged out.

Step 313: The anti-addiction system stops monitoring the game time ofthe corresponding online game account of the user according to thereceived online game account logout message.

In this embodiment, the online game server may perform step 312 beforeperforming step 308.

The specific embodiments of the method of the present invention havebeen described above. The system provided in an embodiment of theinvention is described in detail below with reference to accompanyingdrawings.

As shown in FIG. 5, the system provided in an embodiment of theinvention includes an anti-addiction system 501 and an online gameserver system 502. The anti-addiction system 501 is adapted to receivethe login message of an online game account of a user, acquirecumulative online time of all online game accounts of the user accordingto the information about the game time of all online game accounts ofthe user, count time on the basis of the cumulative online time andlimit the game time of the user according to the counted time; theonline game server system 502 is adapted to send an online game accountlogin message to the anti-addiction system.

The foregoing system further includes: a PPP server, adapted to storeinformation about the game time of all online game accounts of the userin the user's PPP, and provide such information to the anti-addictionsystem. This PPP server may provide the information about the game timeof all online game accounts of the user to the anti-addiction systemdirectly, or provide such information to the anti-addiction systemthrough an online game server system.

The PPP server may send the information about the game time of allonline game accounts of the user to the online game server systemthrough an online game client system, and the online game server systemsends the information to the anti-addiction system.

The foregoing system may further include: a user attribute collectionunit, adapted to collect the attributes that can identify the user froma terminal, and send the collected user attribute information to theuser attribute authentication unit; and a user attribute authenticationunit, adapted to acquire information through interaction with the PPPserver, authenticate user attributes from the user attribute collectionunit, and notify the authentication result to the PPP server.

According to the authentication result sent from the user attributeauthentication unit, the PPP server sends PPP-related information to theterminal, including the information about the game time of all onlinegame accounts of the user.

The foregoing anti-addiction system is set in an online game server, orset in a service provision platform connected to the online game serverand the operator's network, or set separately.

FIG. 6 shows the composition of the system provided in the firstembodiment of the invention, where an online game server 61 is connectedto a PPP server 63 through a service provision platform 62, andconnected to a user terminal 65 through a service provision platform 62and a uniform access management unit 64.

The online game server 61 includes an anti-addiction system 611, anonline game server system 612 and an online game account managementsystem 613. The anti-addiction system 611 and the online game serversystem 612 have the functions of the foregoing anti-addiction system 501and the online game server system 502, respectively, except that, asshown in FIG. 6, the anti-addiction system 611 and the online gameserver system 612 interact with other parts through the uniform openservice gateway 621 in the service provision platform 62. The onlinegame account management system 613 is adapted to manage all online gameaccounts of a user, for example, interact with the online game clientsystem on the user terminal for account login, login authentication, andaccount logout. The online game account management system interacts withthe outside through the uniform open service gateway 621.

The service provision platform 62 includes a uniform open servicegateway 621, adapted to connect components of the online game server,serve as an interface gateway for interaction between the foregoingcomponents and the interior parts of the operator's network such as aPPP server and a uniform access management unit, and be responsible forprotocol conversion in the interaction process.

The PPP server 63 includes a PPP access control unit 631 and a PPPstorage unit 632. The PPP storage unit 632 is adapted to store the PPPdata of the user. The PPP access control unit 631 is adapted to (i)receive a login update request sent from the anti-addiction system orthe online game server system, and authenticate the request message;(ii) if the authentication is passed, update the data in the PPP storageunit, and return the information about the game time of the user readfrom the PPP storage unit to the anti-addiction system or the onlinegame server system; (iii) receive a logout update request sent from theanti-addiction system or the online game server system, and authenticatethe request message; (iv) if the authentication is passed, update thedata in the PPP storage unit, and return an update confirmation messageto the anti-addiction system or the online game server system uponcompletion of update; (v) according to the request for searching for theuser's PPP sent from the user attribute authentication unit, read theinformation in the user's PPP, and perform network authentication andservice authentication for the user; (vi) if the authentication ispassed, return the user's PPP identifier to the user terminal. Thespecific embodiments of the PPP server are described in the ChinesePatent Application No. CN200510135987.9, filed with the Chinese PatentOffice on Dec. 19, 2005, and will not be described further here. ChinesePatent Application No. CN200510135987.9 is hereby incorporated byreference in its entirety and for everything that it teaches.

The uniform access management unit 64 includes a uniform access gateway641, which serves as an interface gateway between the online game clienton the user terminal and the PPP server or the online game server andmay perform traffic control and content charging. The uniform accessmanagement unit 64 may further include a user attribute authenticationunit 642, adapted to acquire information through interaction with thePPP server and authenticate the user attribute information sent from theterminal.

The user terminal 65 includes an online game client system 651, adaptedto interact with the online game server system 612 about game logics anddata; interact with the online game account management system toauthenticate the online game account of the user; and send the user'sPPP information received from the PPP server to the online game serversystem.

The user terminal 65 may further include a user attribute collectionunit 652, adapted to collect the attributes that can identify the user;and, through the uniform access gateway 641, send the collected userattributes to the user attribute authentication unit for authentication.The user attribute collection unit may be a voice collection unit, ahardware information collection unit inside a special computer,fingerprint collection unit, portrait collection unit, intelligent cardinformation collection unit, or a combination thereof.

The system provided in first embodiment of the present invention hasbeen described above. As shown in FIG. 7, the system provided in thesecond embodiment differs from the system provided in the firstembodiment: The anti-addiction system 722 is set on a service provisionplatform, and performs the functions of the anti-addiction system 611except that the anti-addiction system is connected to the online gameserver system through a uniform open service gateway and is directlyconnected to the PPP server.

Although the invention has been described through some exemplaryembodiments, the invention is not limited to such embodiments. It isapparent that those skilled in the art can make various modificationsand variations to the invention without departing from the spirit andscope of the invention. The invention is intended to cover themodifications and variations provided that they fall in the scope ofprotection defined by the following claims or their equivalents.

1. A method for limiting the game time of an online game user, comprising: acquiring cumulative online time of all online game accounts of the user after the user logs in through an online game account according to the information about the game time of all online game accounts of the user; and counting time on the basis of the acquired cumulative online time, and limiting the game time of the user according to the counted time.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the information about the game time of all online game accounts of the user is stored in a personal portable profile (PPP) server.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the information about the game time includes the user's cumulative online time, cumulative offline time, and user status; and the method further comprises: updating the user status to “offline” after the user logs out.
 4. The method of claim 3, further comprising: counting the cumulative online time of the user when the user is online; counting the cumulative offline time of the user when the user is offline.
 5. The method of claim 4, further comprising: resetting the cumulative online time of the user to zero if the user's cumulative offline time reaches or exceeds the threshold of refreshing the cumulative online time, when the user is offline.
 6. The method of claim 3, wherein the process of acquiring cumulative online time of all online game accounts of the user after the user logs in through an online game account according to the information about the game time of all online game accounts of the user comprises: by the user, logging in to an online game server through the online game account, and sending the user's PPP-related information to the online game server; sending, by the online game server, a user login message and the user's PPP-related information to an anti-addiction system; sending, by the anti-addiction system, a login update request to the PPP server, carrying the user's PPP-related information; by the PPP server, after receiving the request, updating the game time information in the user's PPP according to the user's PPP-related information in the login update request, and returning the cumulative online time of the user to the anti-addiction system; and the process of updating the user status to “offline” after the user logs out comprises: sending, by the online game server, a user logout message and the PPP identifier in the user's PPP-related information to the anti-addiction system after the user logs out of the online game server through an online game account; sending, by the anti-addiction system, a logout update request inclusive of the user's PPP identifier to the PPP server; and updating, by the PPP server after receiving this request, the information about the game time in the user's PPP according to the PPP identifier in the logout update request.
 7. The method of claim 6, wherein the process of updating the game time information in the user's PPP according to the user's PPP-related information after the PPP server receives a login update request comprises: by the PPP server, querying the user status in the user's PPP after receiving a login update request; if the user status in the user's PPP is “offline,” setting the user status in the user's PPP to “online,” setting the cumulative offline time in the user's PPP to “0,” and continuing to count the online time of the user on the basis of the cumulative online time; if the user status in the user's PPP is “online,” returning the cumulative online time of the user to the anti-addiction system directly; the process of updating the game time information in the user's PPP after the PPP server receives a logout update request comprises: by the PPP server, judging whether all online game accounts of the user are offline after receiving a logout update request; if so, setting the user status to “offline”; otherwise, finishing the step directly.
 8. The method of claim 7, wherein the PPP server presets an online status counter for the user and sets an initial value; further, upon receiving a login update request, the PPP server increases the online status counter value of the user by one; further, upon receiving a logout update request, the PPP server decreases the online status counter value of the user by one; and the process of judging whether all online game accounts of the user are offline comprises: judging whether the online status counter value of the user is the initial value.
 9. The method of claim 1, wherein the information about the game time includes login time and logout time of every online game account of the user; the process of acquiring the cumulative online time of all online game accounts of the user comprises: acquiring the login time and the logout time of every online game account of the user; and calculating the cumulative online time of the user according to the acquired login time and logout time of every online game account of the user; after acquiring the cumulative online time of all online game accounts of the user, the method further comprises: updating the login time of the online game account that logs in to the game server; the method further comprises: updating the logout time of the online game account after the online game account logs out.
 10. The method of claim 9, wherein the process of acquiring cumulative online time of all online game accounts of the user after the user logs in through an online game account according to the information about the game time of all online game accounts of the user comprises: by the user, logging in to the online game server through an online game account, and sending the user's PPP-related information to the online game server; sending, by the online game server, an online game account login message and the user's PPP-related information to the PPP server; by the PPP server, updating the game time information in the user's PPP according to the received information, and returning the login time and the logout time of all online game accounts of the user before update to the online game server; by the online game server, forwarding the time information from the PPP server to an anti-addiction system; by the anti-addiction system, acquiring the cumulative online time of the user according to the received time information; by the anti-addiction system, acquiring cumulative online time of all online game accounts of the user after the user logs in through an online game account according to the information about the game time of all online game accounts of the user; and the process of updating the logout time of an online game account after the online game account logs out comprises: by the online game server, after the user logs out through the online game account, sending a logout message of the online game account of the user and the corresponding PPP identifier information to the PPP server; by the PPP server, updating the logout time of the online game account, and returning an update confirmation message to the online game server; by the online game server, sending an online game account logout message to the anti-addiction system; and by the anti-addiction system upon receiving the message, stopping monitoring the game time; or the process of updating the logout time of an online game account after the online game account logs out comprises: by the online game server, after the user logs out through the online game account, sending an online game account logout message to the anti-addiction system; by the anti-addiction system upon receiving the message, stopping monitoring the game time; by the online game server, sending a logout message of the online game account of the user and the corresponding PPP information to the PPP server; and by the PPP server, updating the logout time of the online game account, and returning an update confirmation message to the online game server.
 11. The method of claim 10, wherein the online game server forwards the time information from the PPP server to the anti-addiction system; and the anti-addiction system acquires the cumulative online time of the user according to the received time information, comprising: by the online game server, processing the time information after receiving the time information from the PPP server, acquiring the cumulative online time of the user, and sending the acquired cumulative online time to the anti-addiction system; or, by the online game server, sending the time information to the anti-addiction system after receiving the time information from the PPP server; and by the anti-addiction system, processing the received time information, and acquiring the cumulative online time of the user.
 12. The method of claim 6, further comprising: sending, by the PPP server, the user's PPP-related information to the user terminal when the user accesses the network through a terminal.
 13. The method of claim 10, further comprising: sending, by the PPP server, the user's PPP-related information to the user terminal when the user accesses the network through a terminal.
 14. The method of claim 13, wherein after the user accesses the network through a terminal, the method further comprises: sending, by the terminal, the user attribute information to the network; before the PPP server sends the user's PPP-related information to the user terminal, the method further comprises: by the network, authenticating the user attribute information from the terminal, and notifying the PPP server if the authentication is passed.
 15. The method of claim 6, wherein the PPP-related information comprises the user's PPP identifier information or the user's PPP information.
 16. A system for limiting the game time of an online game user, comprising an anti-addiction system wherein: the anti-addiction system is adapted to receive the login message of an online game account of the user, acquire cumulative online time of all online game accounts of the user according to the information about the game time of all online game accounts of the user, count time on the basis of the cumulative online time, and limit the game time of the user according to the counted time.
 17. A system of claim 16, further comprising an online game server system, adapted to send the login message of an online game account of the user to the anti-addiction system.
 18. The system of claim 16, further comprising a personal portable profile (PPP) server, adapted to store the information about the game time of all online game accounts of the user in the user's PPP, and provide the information to the anti-addiction system.
 19. The system of claim 18, further comprising: a user attribute collection unit, adapted to collect the attributes that may identify the user, and send the collected user attributes to a user attribute authentication unit; a user attribute authentication unit, adapted to acquire information through interaction with the PPP server, authenticate the user attribute information from the user attribute collection unit, and notify the PPP server according to the authentication result; and the PPP server send the user's PPP-related information to the terminal according to the authentication result from the user attribute authentication unit.
 20. A personal portable profile (PPP) server, comprising a PPP access control unit, and a PPP storage unit, wherein: the PPP storage unit is adapted to store the PPP data about the game time of all online game accounts of a user; and the PPP access control unit is adapted to receive a login update request and a logout update request, update the information about the game time in the PPP storage unit according to the received request, read the information about the game time from the PPP storage unit, and send the read information; or, further search for the PPP requests of the user, read the information in the PPP of the user, and return the user's PPP identifier information to the user terminal. 